Further analysis is expected to allow scientists and caretakers alike to better understand the causes of mortality and the influence of certain life experiences on longevity. The new results provide researchers with long overdue information on the life history patterns of captive chimpanzees. The oldest chimpanzee in Japan was a wild-born male, Jhonny, who died January 2019 at the ripe old age of 68. However, averages do not indicate maximum lifespan.

If calculated from birth, their life expectancy is 28.3 years.'įor the individuals who reach their first birthday, life expectancy is 34.6 years on average.

'Around one in every five chimpanzees born dies before reaching their first birthday, and this has a significant impact on overall average life expectancy. 'These numbers change when the high infant mortality rate is considered,' states Havercamp. The findings showed that the average life expectancy of a chimpanzee who reaches adulthood-reported as 12-years-old in the paper-is 40 years: 41.5 years for males and 39.2 years for females. The first chimpanzee entry dates back to 1921, and of the 1,017 entries on chimpanzees the team was able to utilize importation, birth, migration, and death data on 821 individuals. The 'Great Ape Information Network,' or GAIN, contains records of all great apes in Japan. Thanks to the Great Ape Information Network we were able to explore this more extensively.' 'And since prior studies are either small or outdated, our understanding of chimpanzee longevity under human care was limited. 'Most nation-wide chimpanzee data are held in studbooks shared amongst zoo communities,' explains Havercamp. Kristin Havercamp of Kyoto University's Wildlife Research Center, and first author of the study, was surprised to learn that very little was known about the life history of chimpanzees in Japan, even though such a detailed database exists. In a new article published in the journal Primates, researchers report the average life expectancy of chimpanzees in captivity in Japan by utilizing a database spanning nearly 100 years, containing information on over 1,000 individuals. Over the years, primatologists have reported on the life expectancies of wild chimpanzees in their native Africa, but few reports on their state in captivity exist.

Chimpanzee lifespan wild